Taxi fare goes higher while commuters’ pockets run dry

Commuters will feel the pinch of the petrol hike as taxi fares are set to increase again during the month of August.

The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) has recently announced that its management has decided – at a specially convened meeting – to increase taxi fares for local and long-distance travel in August.

A spokesperson for Santaco, Thabisho Molelekwa, said the increase for local-distance taxis will be between R1 and R10 while long-distance taxis will increase between R1 and R20.

This would be the second taxi price hike commuters will face this year. Molelekwa said the increases may be more in some areas especially long-distance operations.

“Santaco has, therefore, decided the recent increases will only be valid until June 2019 where they will be reviewed. We regret the impact of these increases on commuters and more especially the poor, but unless these prices are brought into effect, many taxi operators will struggle to stay in business and consequently won’t be able to offer this much-needed service,” said Molelekwa.

Siphesihle Ndaba (21) who studies public administration at the iCollege in Midrand said she was already struggling with transport money to get to school. She resides in Birch Acres, Kempton Park and uses R26 a day to get to school.

“If the taxi fares go up again I would be forced to skip some days at school because as it is now, my parents are struggling with the current amount. This will affect my school work in a major way,” she said.

Ndaba said she cannot supplement her taxi fares with her pocket money because she doesn’t get any. “I eat before I leave for school in the morning and eat again only when I return home in the late afternoon.

“The continuous increase in the cost of living and taxi fares also places pressure on young girls to tread into the ‘blesser’ lifestyle because they want money to get to school and buy food,” she added.

Her friend and schoolmate, Nompumelelo Khoza (18) from Phomolong also spends R26 a day for transport to school. She said her father – who is the breadwinner at home – was doing all he could to keep the family afloat with the high cost of living.

“My father is the only one working. I would also have to cut my days of attending school and find alternative ways to study. Many students would be forced to drop out due to the financial pressure,” she said.

Fanie Chirwa is a father of two who lives with his family in Glen Austin. He spends R64 a day to travel to work in Centurion. He said with other expenses including R3 100 for rent and R1 700 for his children’s education a month, he was already struggling to keep up with the daily expenses.

“We used to give our children pocket money to spend at school but we have since stopped because we can’t afford it. This will force me to walk and not use a taxi for short distance travel,” he said.

A taxi driver, Solly Moloi said business was taking a strain with the increasing petrol prices and as a result, families suffer. He mentioned that a single load to Pretoria makes R330 and he has to use R200 for petrol. “What am I left with after that and what will I check in at the end of the day? Not to mention that the car also has to be maintained.

“Petrol is going up for the fourth time this year, which means food is also going up. Our families are suffering and if things continue this way, some commuters will ditch taxis and hitchhike and, worse, some of us would lose jobs because we won’t be making enough money,” he added.

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